The Prophet

Reading Charlton Sheffield Wed

It was until Colo, Enrique and Carroll pull up injured. Don't tempt fate man.

Surely the starting line up at Old Trafford.

Reading and Charlton look to be decent shouts, I'll no doubt get carried away and add another three teams to that bet though.

The move is bad news for everyone bar Villa.

It would be interesting to see what kind of fee Taylor/Enrique/Carroll would fetch in the current climate.

Nearly thirty million for a player that will barely improve them, good buisness.

I'd say we have an excess of below par strikers too.

Would like to see our starting line up at Old Trafford give a run out for at least forty five minutes. It's depressing/exciting to think it's only a week away.

Despite a few additions this summer it's evident the squad is still seriously lacking in key areas. Despite his reassurances Hughton appears to be working on a shoe string budget with the one cash buy this window. Supposing those working above him suggested he could spend any funds generated from player sales would he be tempted by an increased kitty? In my opinion I don't think he would and I would tend to agree with him. To generate a decent amount of cash Hughton would have two options: sell one of our few valuable assists or sell a couple of our average squad fillers. If we take the former to begin with, who are our valuable assets? For me Enrique, Taylor, Jonas and Carroll could demand decent fees. We have to hold on to Enrique and Carroll which leaves Jonas and Taylor. I could honestly see a foreign club paying a decent sum for Gutierrez, but would his loss to the side be counter productive? We already have plenty of positions to be worrying about without needing to bring in another left winger so for me that would be a no go. What about Taylor? I'd certainly think about it for the right price. It would leave us short at centre back but if we could buy a couple of decent players off the fee I don't think I'd lose too much sleep over his departure. Obviously it remains to be seen whether any club would take a gamble given his current injury. What about the other option? Who is expendable? In my eyes (obviously not Hughton's) we could flog Ryan, Best and Xisco. I'd add Smith to that list but it just isn't going to happen. How much could we realistically expect to generate from the three? Would it be worth cutting an already paper-thin squad for the sake of a couple of million? It's difficult and it would depnd on how much clubs were willing to offer for the three of them but I highly doubt it would be much. So yeah I'd like to think we could sell to buy but you can see the dilemma for Hughton. In reality it's unlikely he'd do so as he's been banging on about keeping the squad together all summer not to mention it remains to be seen whether he would see any of the money which he generated. Bearing that in mind selling to buy seems to be a bit of a pipe dream for me. Thoughts?

Still Gash, you must be disappointed with your summer activity thus far? Still need a keeper and a centre back, possibly a big bastard in the middle too.

How many signings did we expect to make though? Fair point but we've signed Campbell who'll miss the start of the season, Gosling who's out until Christmas and Perch who isn't going to be the difference between relegation and surviving.

Getting slightly concerned the season is only a week away and we look no where near signing the quality required to survive.

I'm not sure how so many people can get so excited on such little information. Ben Arfa would be an ideal signing but if you take a step back and look at this objectively we don't even know if we're in negotiations for the lad. Our alleged interest could be as significant as a bid or as little as an inquiry. Truthly we don't even know if he's interested in a move, all we have is the word of a couple of French hacks and Neil Farrington's 'sources'. Same goes for Cleverly, the media are as informed about his destination as we are. Ferguson claims he wants to loan the lad out, subsequently the guessing games begin. You can rule out the top eight for a kick off, Fulham have options on the flanks as do Sunderland and Stoke so that leaves the remaning nine teams in the league. We're the front runners, then Blackpool enter the mix, oh wait he's off to Bolton, now Wigan is his destination. It's all absolute crap. Instead of setting our hearts on utter speculation isn't it just best to see who comes through the door? I used to love a good rumour but the secrecy and to an extent the incompetence of the current regime makes any rumour, however exciting and persistent difficult to get excited about.

Krul is a class shot stopper but his judgement when coming to claim a ball doesn't exactly fill me with confidence. He needs to settle down.

If I were Taylor27 I wouldn't dare fart in fear of shitting myself.

Our survival is not dependent on a few players being good, more it relies on 5-8 players not being bad. Rock the boat with an individual like Ben Arfa, watch team morale drop, and watch NUFC drop down the league just like before. Our survival depends on us being able to score enough goals against the dross that fills the bottom half of the league, currently our attack isn't good enough to do this. Have you actually got any evidence Ben Arfa is a bad apple as a pose to a stereotypically sulky Frenchman? People posted links to articles when he was first linked. Yes we do need quality players, probably 5 or 6, but buy the wrong ones and you end up with the Newcastle non-team that got themselves relegated with players that showed up against the big teams, and then lost to Hull. Ben Arfa is a wrong one, and I personally don't think Hughton even wants him. ...but get it right and you end with a player like Robert who helped us into the upper echelons of the league. You can't be scared of being ambitious becuase of who it might upset, take Bellamy for instance I'd have him back here in a flash. Anyway even if a player was to play up I have no doubt it would have minimal impact on the team ethic given how closely knit the dressing room is supposed to be. Oh and I think we know it was more than a lack of team spirit that sent us down given the evident problems off the pitch.

Bollocks, you're blowing this way out of proportion. He's positively helped teams to 5 Ligue 1 titles at the age of 23. It's not as if he went round picking fights with everybody in his way you know, you're making him out to be some kind of mental anarchist. 5 teams? He's only been a serious part of two winning teams, and he was hardly a top player for either l'OM or Lyon. Deschamps kept him on the substitutes bench most of the time. He clearly has mental stability issues, but I think this can be overcome. Also, if we buy him for less than 7 million euros, we are probaly selling at a profit. Cleverly will leave and we will have to spend to replace him, which will result in a net loss. Whatever man, he has 5 Ligue 1 titles in his locker and appearences, assists and goals in that time. That already puts him ahead of Cleverley. Aye but Cleverly helped Watford survive in the Championship.

Our survival is not dependent on a few players being good, more it relies on 5-8 players not being bad. Rock the boat with an individual like Ben Arfa, watch team morale drop, and watch NUFC drop down the league just like before. Our survival depends on us being able to score enough goals against the dross that fills the bottom half of the league, currently our attack isn't good enough to do this. Have you actually got any evidence Ben Arfa is a bad apple as a pose to a stereotypically sulky Frenchman?

Aye, in future we shouldn't sign any genuine quality in case it upsets big Kev and the lads. Christ.

We are going to get more from having a strong team of eleven men this season. A poncy player who has sulked his way out of France's two biggest teams is definitely not what our team needs. He's hardly top level anyhow. As a pose to a young lad who looked decent in the Championship?

If Ben Arfa were to join us it would be short term anyway, he'd blatently using us a stepping stone. Having said that I couldn't care if he helps the club establish itself in the top flight.

Man alive it's Jonas's first game of pre-season, get a grip.

Didn't we agree terms with the player but Ashley and Co couldn't agree how the fee was to be paid. I remember Modric saying something along the lines of he was a Newcastle player until the very last minute.

Hardly a reflection on Barca.